Offices in commercial buildings, and specifically conference rooms or small meeting rooms, are frequently equipped with a fairly large video monitor to permit visual display of information to a plurality of people disposed within the room, which people are frequently seated around a fairly large-sized conference table. The video monitor, which in recent years is typically of the flat panel type, is normally mounted on a wall or suspended from the ceiling, although frequently the monitor may be mounted on a separate credenza or mobile cart. In all such instances the monitor is mounted separate from, and frequently significantly spaced from, the conference table and the individuals seated therearound. This remote spacing and the specific location of the monitor makes connection of the monitor to a laptop computer inconvenient and in many cases difficult, thereby making control over the video display more difficult, and frequently resulting in loose cables extending across the floor so as to create a potential safety hazard. In some instances special conference tables have been developed which have a cable module fixed thereto, and which may also or alternately have a cable trough extending therealong into which cables project up from the floor and extend into the trough. These cable troughs will frequently contain elongate lengths of connecting cables therein so that individuals adjacent the table can reach into the trough and pull out a length of cable for connection to a laptop computer. While such has arrangements have improved the accessibility of the cables to the computer and have improved the control of the cables adjacent the table, they nevertheless have required special modification of the table structure, particularly the upper surface, and the overall situation still requires extension of cables to a remote monitor location.
While tables or desks have been developed which incorporate a monitor thereon, these are typically structurally complex and/or involve the use of storage recesses or compartments which significantly impede the overall flexible use of the table.
Examples of prior table and desk constructions are illustrated by the following patents and publications: U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,748,328, 7,509,912, 7,207,278, 7,063,024, 7,047,890, 6,913,332, 6,609,465, 6,168,250, 4,766,422, 2006-011769, 2009-0260547, 2010-03022454.
The use of video monitors within conference and meeting rooms, and specifically the connection of cabling between the monitor and a computer or electronic device positioned on a table, continues to present a problem which has been less than optimally resolved.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved table arrangement which overcomes the disadvantages discussed above by mounting a monitor directly on the table while at the same time facilitating the connection of both power and computer cables to the monitor without having to string unnecessary cables across the floor or across long distances, and providing improved visual observation of the monitor by positioning it in close association to individuals seated around the table.
More specifically, in accordance with the present invention, the table arrangement mounts a support structure on an underside of the table top, which support structure slidably mounts a carriage for horizontal movement beneath the table top between extended and retracted positions. The carriage couples to a monitor support through a horizontal hinge arrangement, which support mounts a conventional flat-panel video monitor thereon. The monitor and its support are oriented generally horizontally and disposed substantially entirely below the table top in a generally hidden storage position when the carriage is in its retracted position. When the monitor and its support are moved outwardly to extend beyond an adjacent edge of the table, such as by pulling on the monitor support so as to move the carriage horizontally along the underside of the table top to its extended position, the monitor can then be manually pivoted upwardly about the hinge connection so that the monitor assumes an upright position disposed adjacent and projecting upwardly from an edge of the table top, thereby providing for clear and close visual proximity of the monitor to the individuals seated at the table. Power is supplied to the monitor through a cable which extends through a horizontally movable cable manager which connects between the carriage and the table top to maintain the cable hidden and close to the underside of the table top, while at the same time compensating for the movement of the monitor between its stored and upright use positions. The cable then extends along the underside of the table to a table leg, and then downwardly for connection to a suitable floor-mounted power receptacle. The regions adjacent and under the table are hence maintained reasonably free and clear of obstructions, and cables, for convenient use of the table and its associated monitor.
The table arrangement and the monitor integrally mounted thereon, as aforesaid, provides improved access between the monitor and a user laptop computer positioned on the table. The monitor support provides a control panel disposed adjacent a lower edge of the monitor and readily accessible from the vicinity of the table top, whereby a user can readily plug a laptop power cord into the control box if necessary or desired. The control panel also has conventional computer connectors or ports associated therewith, such as VGA or HDMI connectors, so that a laptop user can also, through use of conventional connecting cables, join the laptop to the connectors on the control panel, which connectors in turn are joined to the monitor so as to permit control of the monitor by the laptop disposed on the table.
The improved table arrangement, as aforesaid, preferably incorporates a biasing structure, such as uniform-force air springs, coupled between the carriage and the monitor support and disposed to exert a biasing moment or torque which assists in upward swinging of the monitor from its intermediate extended horizontal position into its upright use position, whereby the user hence has to supply only a limited amount of lifting force on the monitor to control the upward swinging thereof into the upright use position, or conversely downward away from the upright position.
In accordance with a variation of the table arrangement of the present invention, which variation integrally mounts the monitor thereon for movement between the upright use and hidden storage positions, but which is designed to accommodate and permit multiple laptop computers to be disposed on the table and connected to the monitor, the table can be provided with a cable control module mounted on the top, generally near the center thereof. This cable module, as is conventional, is supplied with a power cable extending upwardly from the floor through a cable column which, at the module, connects to multiple power receptacles to permit it to accommodate multiple power cords from multiple laptop computers. More significantly, however, this module has multiple computer connectors (or alternately multiple sets of connectors) associated therewith and connected to a switching unit, which switching unit in turn is coupled to connector cables which extend along the wire manager and connect to corresponding connectors or ports associated with the monitor, which connectors may be VGA, HDMI or other conventional digital/analog signal transmission connectors. The cable module hence enables multiple laptop computers positioned on the table top to be connected to the various connectors associated with the cable module which, through manual manipulation and selective switching of the switching unit, enables any of the computers to be in communication with and control the video monitor. In a preferred embodiment of this variation, the signal transmitting connectors associated with the cable module preferably have elongate cables connected thereto and connected between the connector and the switching unit, with the cable lengths being stored in a suitable cable managing device disposed under the table, such as associated with the upright cable column, so that the connectors and attached cables can be manually pulled out of the cable manager for connection directly to the laptop computer, thereby eliminating the need for the user to provide their own separate connecting cables.
Other structural and operational features of the present invention, and the advantages and conveniences provided thereby, will be apparent to persons familiar with constructions of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience and reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “rightwardly” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the table arrangement and designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.